Collective Soul. The purpose of soul is immortality. Then by this remarkable ‘twist’ the Species will not die out. Hence it is immortal; going on and on till the End of Time.
The Species does not separate wether each man is immortal or not...only that itself...men... is immortal or not.
We ask would this be the same for man and men? Can the soul of men be the summation of the soul of each man? And to ask as well, will each man be satisfied that though each conscious is not immortal...a greater summation of each and every man conscious is immortal.
But did we not say that soul was dread of mortality...more exactly...dread of Death of all consciousness. If City as Species is the summation of soul then it is the summation of all dread.
So that each man creates a soul to dread his death of consciousness, yet can that man willingly give that soul to a larger soul which will indeed in the same way swallow his own immortality as assuredly as his own death will?”
Tall man: ”Damn, this...indeed...a dreadful discussion.”
The short man laughed while the Beggar interjected “ Let no one of man die then, both the Species and each man has immortality.”
The short man replied “ If then none died, how many Cities would we need to ensure the Species immortality.
None.
How many men?
One.
The only difficulty being to now choose the one man living who will live on forever, representing the Species.
Could all men weave through such jealousy to choose the One? No wonder men find it so easy to kill each other. Such intense competitions.
If a Collective soul, the City soul is chosen, then each separate man’s soul is not.
If the One man’s soul is chosen than the City is not, nor are men’s.
A large gamble for the Species.
Beggar’s Son: “ Why limit from a City down to just One?”
The Short Man: “ Because, ultimately, we must limit that number to a finite amount. And some souls must be outside that finite and must therefore cease to exist. Who will choose their souls, their dread...they themselves or the immortality of what’s left? Perhaps here is the why and the where of the gods, the half-mortals and the mortals in endless combat!
But we can say that ,wether the Species or the City Collective, at least all are chosen or all are not chosen but dissolve into.
The way of the One is not that way. The way of many men or a few men or One man is exclusion.
For Species or City better all than the many. Better the All become one because the One excludes all.
The Body remains dying because imagine a One where the parts of the many could forever “feed” the immortality of the One. The many have a part in this immortality but not their consciousness, which was the original purpose of soul.
The Beggar asked “ Is this not then the conflict of religion versus spirituality? That all must be consumed into one god? With no individualities?”
The Short man answered “Why is this abhorrent? Is it mere reflex against change? I daresay a solitary hunter of empty desert horizons of a thousand years ago would find our City an absolute nightmare. A nightmare of dilution of Spirit. Yet we have grown into it.
Of this One, is this the ultimate in cruelty, brutality...or merely... assimilation? Thousands, millions swallowed up for the One, or even if you prefer, the Few.
The Tall Man: “ Is that any different than war...or great wealth amongst a sea of famine?”
Short Man: “Perhaps not. We will allow all things amongst men to be unequal except this thing of immortality. There indeed many kinds of dogs, weak and strong; the dog makes its pack with all other dogs. The dog will willingly give itself in defence of the pack...even give itself to feed the pack. But even the dog knows...or does not know and thus does not dread, that it will die and all will die. only the Species will survive. No individual dog. The dog does not really know this...only the Species, the sum of dogs knows this.
Men don’t know this little or at least, think they know more. They know dread. Perhaps we as men will give all to men but not to a man...for if the man has calamity or disease, have we not all lost and are lost, onto the Species in the gamble.
I say again, too, that we would be willingly unequal as men to all things but immortality. Perhaps that is why men “sent” to battle do not fight as well as men led to battle.
There is a changing pattern in this ‘way of things’. The wind shifting. Asa decay seems gone when the air drifts to elsewhere then our noses. That men have begun to believe that their ‘salvation’, their ‘soul’ can be found in the safety of numbers of souls, in the collective cooing and cawing of gathered City souls. It is a ‘herding’ response like cornered gazelles. They turn their better legs to bigger eyes before the wolves. it is not, however, the wolves outward they should fear but those newly sharpened teeth in the herd. Those few which inch the herd into a revolving banquet before Death’s teeth. Revolving without their perception around the ‘nudging’ Few. The Few, who buy Time with nibbling teeth at their fellow’s haunches, buying only Time...to buy Immortality.
Such a word...immortality...so like immoral...but at cross purposes...”
The tall man “ What do you mean? If these men believe in immortality, why not embrace the Death sooner than later?”
The short man ”Remember there is not necessarily much truth in Belief. There is illusion, lie, hope, dread. There are many dark corners and dirty windows in worship. the man who has a soul has a dread of death as well. For most men, courage is a walk between belief and dread. There are a Few, however, who put their gamble down on many more things than just belief. They build ‘heavens’ on both sides of Death, just in case.
Just in case there is a god and you will see him as easily as he sees you ... above the city of men as above the souls of other men.
Understand that it is a much different thing to await god than to await death. Those Few say ‘Let the others keep death busy while we conjure up our better salvations.’
The tall man “Are you saying all leaders are cowards and run from death?”
The short man “No. I am saying that those ‘who’ wish for immortality a little stronger, wish for death a little less. One calls their souls ‘stronger’; their dread, then, not as weak. The ‘Many’ see these ‘Few’ as enlightened, gifted, purposeful, guided, superior because the soul in them...the dread...the stature of men...is felt to be stronger.
We have defined the greater dread as soul-sense, as consciously-elevated men. What is this ‘higher’ conscious? What is this superiority of place, of mind as seen by the Many (told to by the Few) asThe Rightful Inequality of Elevations.
You see, my Beggar boy, a man alone has dread but he has no inequality of dread. Suddenly, or gradually, men have become better known by their dread, than their living without dread.
Souls are measured but never weighed. there is really nothing to them. then really what is it all?
Do you see it? The trick? Men become more or less equal by their being more or less men. dread, not death, has dragged all to the City...or created City...a gathering place for the flock...for the comparison of souls. There is no Man here. A man cannot be easily made into an insect. First he must become...Men.
Now men do not have a good history of maintaining equality, or even inequality based on actual quality.
A man alone is like a dog, a monkey, a tiger. He is a ‘doer’, an act of doing moment by moment.
Men are ‘systems’. Systems devised by men to contain men, to control men. Control them not as individual man after man but as many of the same men. These systems are always flawed because they are invented by a conscious mind or minds fleeing Dread. Dread of itself losing its immortal mind. Understand the System does not develop that all minds become immortal but rather that some minds, a few minds, perhaps even only one mind...become immortal.
One above a Few. A Few above a Many. Many devouring All. The ‘System’ is always parasitical in its purpose but seemi
ngly predatorial in its design.”
The Tall man: “What difference does it make? Is not a parasite, a predator?”
The Short Man: “As a predator a system appears as a natural thing to men. The strong consuming the weak. Just as they remember it when men was more man than Men...that is in the pre-City days. When man was not safe except with his own kind.
Now in the City-days Man is safe from all but himself. The Strong in a City are not predators...lone dogs, tigers or wolves seeking a mere meal, another day of sustenance. The very Strong of a City are Parasites. They seek a Lifetime. Indeed, even more than a Lifetime.
The very best of parasites are not easily seen, are not easily known. They are inside Men, disguised as Men, and worse, disguised as any other man’s chance.
These Great Parasites are disguised as the Equality of Inequality. We are told the City is a jungle. It is not. It is a Battlefield.
It is a battle between Species and Men. Species is a flow. A City is not. It is a dam. Different ‘things’ populate a river from a sea. Different ‘things’ rise to the top.
Naturally, men in small numbers, may not come to equality but they at least come to an inequality of ability. The spear thrower respects the fire maker who respects the game tracker. Abilities which ensure the survival of a man ensure the survival of Species. As Men of Man. As a hunter-gatherer-predator.
A City is not this. Simply put a City is a man with many, many, many legs. A city is an insect, a great seething coil